


Is This Gravity

by NightBearrors



Category: Living with my brother's wife
Genre: F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Pining, sex?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:47:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22608001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightBearrors/pseuds/NightBearrors
Summary: She's not sure what it is that pushes her off the precipice. A want, she will later assume. A want for what, she will debate for a while, after the guilt sets in.
Relationships: Shino/nozomi
Comments: 22
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is for a manga called Ani No Yome To Kurashite Imasu/Living With My Brother's Wife. The writing and characters hit real good and I love how the story is written. The basic rundown is Shino's brother who raised her, Nozomi's husband, passed away unexpectedly. Shino and Nozomi still live together after his passing. The manga explores their grief and the fallout of his death. His name is Taishi.
> 
> These are the two main characters. Shino is 17/18, Nozomi is 24/25. 
> 
> I am interested in Shino and Nozomi's relationship and the aspect of guilt they both feel in relying on the other, as well as the guilt that would undoubtedly sprout with a blooming physical or romantic relationship.

Nozomi's hand is around her wrist and she has that  _ look _ , the one where she's about to say something she knows she shouldn't.

Something selfish.

But she doesn't. Nozomi says nothing at all, just releases Shino and gives a small smile. And suddenly everything is  _ normal _ again as Nozomi walks to the kitchen and asks Shino what she wants for dinner.


	2. Chapter 2

Her head is in Shino's lap and it's  _ comfortable _ . Not in the physical sense; Shino's leg is falling asleep- definitely asleep- all static tingle. No, it's a different kind of comfort she feels, watching Nozomi's lashes as she blinks, turns the page of her book, the television all but white noise around them.

And then her hand is in Nozomi's hair, flaring out in a gentle spread of fingers. All Nozomi does is raise her eyebrows a moment and hum, not a question, but a noise of contentment. Shino's heart  _ thumps _ at it and she carefully extracts her touch to lean chin in hand, eyes resting unfocused at the screen of whatever sitcom, afraid her chest will burst any moment.

Nozomi simply turns her page.


	3. Chapter 3

She doesn't kiss Shino on the mouth; it's her shoulder that is graced by Nozomi's lips. It's gentle as they lay together, both quiet in the stillness of the night.

For a moment, Shino thinks she must have imagined it. But no; Nozomi's face is still so close beside her, eyes heavy and half lidded with looming sleep. 

Shino watches her and Nozomi blinks, slow.

_ Beautiful, _ Shino's mind chimes, the word quiet and calm and-

Nozomi shifts up to her elbow, fairer hair cascading down to tickle Shino's cheek and Shino feels her breath catch, caught suddenly in a question. 

Caught on the edge of that precipice.

Nozomi tucks hair behind her ear and Shino's jaw clenches as she watches the small movement, sees  _ intent _ there.

The clock  _ tick tick tick _ s and her heart  _ thump thump thump _ s, but then something shifts on Nozomi's face and the woman settles back down, half burying her face in the pillow, eyes closed.

Shino is left motionless, poised to jump. 

She swallows and only realizes she had been holding her breath when Nozomi threads their fingers together under the blankets. The action is hesitant. Slow. Purposeful. 

Shino falls asleep burying the meaning deep, but gripping Nozomi's hand tight.


	4. Chapter 4

A late night flicker of confidence nudges Shino forward. A spark of courage in the dark guides her hands into Nozomi's hair.

A hum. A question; her name, but Nozomi doesn't roll over, keeps her back facing Shino.

Shino gives no answer. Instead, she combs her fingers through hair.

Nozomi leans into the touch, head pressing back, legs stretching out like Colonel's would sometimes right after waking up.

Shino's heart warms at the comparison and she finds herself sliding closer. 

Nozomi is warm and Shino wonders what it would be like to fall asleep embracing that warmth. Would they get too hot under the comforter? Like they had at Nozomi's parents' house?

A flash of memory: hovering over Nozomi, desperate to have her understand.

Shino's hand grips at Nozomi's hair, not tight, but enough that Nozomi gives a small "mm." And something about that sound, that memory of being over her, presses Shino to grip tighter.

It's not a hum that slides past Nozomi's lips; it's a noise Shino has never heard her make before, somewhere between a whine and a groan.

Shino feels Nozomi tense, but she pulls again and Nozomi all but melts with another sweet sounding exhale.

And Shino's there once again, ready to jump but unsure how or if she even should.

Nozomi's hand finds its way back to touch Shino's knee and in that touch Shino finds her answer of  _ how. _

Shino presses herself against Nozomi, the movement careful and purposeful. She leaves one hand tangled in her hair as the other one wraps around to softly grip her thigh.

Shino isn't sure where she wants to touch, just that she does, so she touches her lips to the back of Nozomi's neck and feels the woman shudder against her. 

Another kiss to her neck and a hand inching up her thigh makes Nozomi's hips jerk, a short burst of involuntary movement, and  _ ah _ ,  _ there _ , Shino's brain tells her.

_ Touch her there. _

Something keeps her hand planted to Nozomi's thigh a moment longer as her lips continue to tickle her neck. Hesitation. Nozomi is breathing in quick puffs, as if she's trying to control it but is failing. Some part of Shino rejoices at this new found power and that's when she gently caresses Nozomi over pajama bottoms.

Shino's hand cups almost perfectly against her and Nozomi's shuttered exhale makes her own breath come out in an excited huff against her ear.

But then Nozomi's hand is gripping hers and yanking it away, pushing it back and away, away. She shakes, curls slightly away, hand gripping Shino's too tightly. In an instant she's out of bed, shutting herself in the bathroom down the hall. Leaving Shino uncertain, confused, and-

Guilty.


	5. Chapter 5

Nozomi is good at pretending.

Shino is not.

Sleeping in her own bed leaves Shino itching for contact. The memory of her hand on Nozomi leaves her itching for...something else. She's unsure for what exactly at first, but then she finds that beautiful noise Nozomi had graced her with at the forefront of her mind.

And she realizes, arm slung over her forehead, dread seeping into the cracks she tried so hard to hide and cover, that she wants her. She wants her like Taishi must have wanted her. How all those strangers writing love letters must have wanted Minato.

But she isn't a stranger writing a confession, and she isn't Nozomi's classmate or peer. She didn't walk home from school hand in hand with her or held her when she cried. Taishi had.

Shino always followed behind, content to simply be there, be acknowledged and talked to but never beside. She'd been content as the sister. She'd been content.

Right?


	6. Chapter 6

There was a night Shino remembers of hushed whispers and laughter behind closed doors and darkened lights.

And then soft, rhythmic slaps of skin. Shino wasn't stupid; she knew what her brother and Nozomi did. But hearing it-

"Taishi-" her voice was higher, desperate and wanting and Shino clamped her pillow firmly over her ears, eyes squeezing shut as a shot of adrenaline flew from her stomach to her throat and back down again. 

She didn't want to hear it. She didn't want to know. She didn't want to feel this way.

A thump of a headboard against the wall, a cry quickly stifled, and Shino moved to shoving fingers in her ears, curled up tight under the covers in her own room, wishing desperately the walls weren't so thin.

She didn't like feeling this way. Would rather crush the feeling down down down than admit she felt anything at all, her gut burning and flipping all at once.


	7. Chapter 7

There's someone else, someone in Nozomi's orbit Shino doesn't know. When she sees Nozomi's blush, her small smile tender and bashful, Shino isn't sure what exactly she feels. A tensing of shoulders, a shudder cold and sharp through her ribs and up around her neck.

She swallows, feels like suddenly she's drowning. It's cold, but prickling with heat.

Her stomach flips.

She wants to puke.

If Nozomi finds another, she would leave wouldn't she? 

And suddenly Shino realizes that with Taishi's absence, she is unsure of what actually ties them together anymore. There is nothing stopping Nozomi from leaving.

It's a thought she shoves so far down so quickly she wonders later what the uneasy thought had even been about.


End file.
